Bella Blvd Studio Blog

Holiday Gift Card Holders | Erica Thompson

Hey friends! Erica here with you today, and I am excited to share some coffee cup gift card holders with you! We give a lot of gift cards during the holidays and these will be perfect for our coffee loving friends! I pulled out the Santa Squad collection and a new coffee cup gift card holder die that I recently picked up! I fell in love with this die set and could not wait to use it with this new holiday collection from Bella Blvd!

I die cut all the pieces out using the 6x6 Santa Squad paper pad. It is the perfect size for this die set! I love the smaller scale prints for a project like this. 

I love that there is a cut to insert your gift card and I think anyone would be happy to receive a cut card like this!

I embellished each of the coffee sleeves with stickers, die cuts and bella pops from the Santa Squad collection. I found some fun trims to add to them as well from my stash to add a finishing touch! I love how these turned out and I can't wait to send them out! 

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope this gives you some holiday gift giving inspiration!

Santa Squad 6x6 paper pad | Spread Some Cheer bella pop | 12x12 Santa Squad Doohickey Stickers | Christmas Mix Enamels | Santa Squad Ephemera Icons | Santa Squad Ephemera Words

Rolodex Memory Cards with Allie (And Santa Squad!)

Have you fallen in love with the "Rolodex" style memory keeping lately? I know I have for sure! These cards are so fun and easy to whip up to create a fun, simple December memory project! 

I wanted to create a fun little project for December memory keeping that was low key and EASY-- so these little cards called my name!  They came together so quickly, and it was so easy to just layer on bits and pieces-- no photos needed if you don't have any! The best part? I used some of the scraps on my desk from other Santa Squad projects! Don't waste a single bit of this adorable collection! 

To create these cards, I cut down some of my extra papers to approximately 4 in x 3 in and used my MemoryDex punch to make it so I could put it in my MemoryDex box! After I created the card, I started decorating! I typed up some of my favorite December song lyrics, as well as some December memories so far, and cut out the strips and glued them on. I love the "collage" look it creates! 

I also had a lot of fun adding in some washi and some Christmas themed "Heart Hugs" from Bella Blvd to add some fun dimension and interest. 

Are you into the Rolodex/MemoryDex memory keeping projects? Have you used up all of your Santa Squad scraps yet? Or are you hoarding all of the pieces because they are so cute? ;) 

Santa Squad paper collection   • Christmas Heart Hugs •  Dotty Designer Washi Tape

Christmas Countdown with Santa Squad

Who doesn't love a Christmas Countdown decoration?  I've wanted to create one for awhile and just knew that Santa Squad would be perfect for it.  Christine joining you today with a simple DIY Christmas Countdown Calendar.

 

I found a set of wood blocks at a local store that I used to decorate - but I also think it could work perfectly from cardboard boxes or even folded cardstock!

One of my favorite parts of creating this was getting to use so many patterned papers. I need each side to be different - so that let me go wild with my choices! The 6 x 6 paper pad kept the scale of the patterns smaller, perfect for a small scale project like this!  I added them using a glittery mod podge to up the sparkle factor and secure them tightly!

The tricky part with each block was determining how to keep them flat.  I kept thinking about using Bella Pops or Wonky Alphabet letters only to realize, I couldn't.  It had to be flat so that the blocks would sit flat no matter what side they were on! 

I spent the most time deciding what to use to add "Christmas Countdown." In the end the Acrylic Christmas accompanied by Florence Alphabet Letters worked great!

By allowing the word Christmas to hang over just a bit, it opened up possibility of extending my ephemera too.  I could not resist the soldiers and was so excited to get to use them in such a prominent way on my project. 

Let's take a look at how this whole project came together in my process video:

 

 

Thanks so much for joining me today!

Santa Squad 6 x 6 Paper Pad, Santa Squad Ephemera, Florence Alphabet Letter Stickers, Acrylic Words

 

 

Squeeze the Day Mini by Kim Watson

I am happy to close off 'cut file week' with this cool idea. Do you know that the the Bella Blvd's Silhouette store is bursting with the coolest cut files? I grabbed a few that coordinate with Bella's latest collection, 'Squeeze the Day', and created this mini book.

Squeeze the Day by Kim Watson

The idea was to take some of the fruit shapes and create shaped pages, filled with sweet goodness :) Here are some details from my creative process. 

 

Using the 6x6 paper pads, I cut a variety of pages. I created white offset outlines with patterned fills. 

 

2" and 2.5" photos, mounted onto patterned paper and decorated with die cuts, enamel stickers, word stickers & washi tape, make each page a riot of color. 

The NEW matte finish enamel dots, glossy enamel hearts and washi tape make building these pages so much fun. The cool thing is, by using washi tape to attach the photos, means you can lift them like little flaps, making room for more photos underneath.

This little mini book has place for x16 photos! 

 

Punched through the top leaf on each page & attached to a jump ring, the mini book looks fabulous assembled. A DIY, colored, twine tassel slipped onto the ring, finishes it off perfectly. 

 

....and here is the completed album! A bright, fun, riot of pattern & color! I hope you have enjoyed my process & are inspired to grab some new cut files & try this for yourself? If you'd like to buy some of this NEW, just released, by Bella, 'Squeeze the Day' collection, be sure to stop by their online store, the links are below.

If you'd like to see a flip through of the entire album & details, be sure to stop by my Instagram account.

You can also view my YouTube video flip-thru of this album! I am so glad you stopped by! Have an awesome weekend!

Hugs Kim XXXX

Squeeze the Day Embellishment Bundle, Florence Alphabet Bundle, Bella Washi Tapes, Squeeze The Day Collection kit

Back to School card and box

Hi everyone! It's hard to believe it's time for the kids to head back to school! My youngest daughter will be making the big transition from private school to a public middle school. I made this cute gift set to give her on the first day. 

I used the new Bella Besties Collection to cut the pencil. I plan to fill this with some cute planner stickers and maybe a little candy. 

For my card, I used some more Bella Besties for the background and then added some ephemera from the Pop Quiz Collection. This card would also be cute for a new teacher.  

Thanks so much for stopping by! 

Bella Besties Collection, Pop Quiz Ephemera Pack,  Chipboard Stickers and Sticky Mix, Puffy Stars

 

 

DIY Mini Easter Baskets

Who loves putting together little DIY gifts for friends and family? I certainly do! And when I can use my paper crafting supplies to do it, it's even more fun! Christine joining you today to show how I combined several Bella Blvd Collections to make these mini Easter Baskets!

I decided to go ahead and make a girl one and a boy one using a cardstock base and then topping that with Plaids & Dotty!

I also used the Wish Big collection to create an egg embellishment. I simply cut the lantern from the ephemera pack in half and then spread it out on white cardstock so that it would form an oval. Then I fussy cut around it and voila, an egg! Adding a simple border down the middle accompanied by enamel dots made it even more cute.  

To identify the baskets, I created simple accompanying tags. Both tags came from the Oh My Stars Collection. No need to wonder, the colors match up perfectly because that's one thing that Bella Blvd is known for! With each collection you can count on the colors matching up from other collections, meaning it's easy to mix and match!

My approach was pretty much the same for the girl basket: add an egg, an embellishment, and a tag! You may notice that the style of the two baskets is slightly different. I used two different cut files but they are put together the same way. You can check out my video below for more details!

I do want to point out one more little detail that helps make these baskets special! The Bella Bows on the top were just the right finishing touch! I love it when you find an embellishment that is just right!

Thanks so much for joining me today! Happy Crafting Friends!

Bella Bows, Wish Big Collection: Ciao Chip, Ephemera, Stickers; Plaids & Dotty: Patterned Paper, Oh My Stars: Tags, Heart Hugs: Enamel Dots

 

 

Super Bowl Hostess Gift

Hi everyone! It's Game Day! Today I'm sharing a quick bottle tag that you can add to a bottle of wine for a great gift for the hostess of the Super Bowl party. I used the Football Collection and my Silhouette Cameo to make this fun tag. 

I used my Cameo to cut the football from the bonus paper from the Collection Kit and mounted it a tag that I cut from the Game Time paper. I added a foam finger cut out from the Ephemera pack and finished it off with a couple of stickers and a Puffy Star.

Thanks for stopping by today! Enjoy all those yummy snacks! 

 

Football Collection Kit, Football Ephemera, Ice Mix Puffy Stars

 

 

A Sweet and Spooky Mailbox Surprise

 

 

Can you guys believe that it's Halloween tomorrow?! I'm just shocked at how quickly the fall season jumped up on us!  I love Halloween, and I really wanted to share my joy of the holiday with my friends, so I set about creating a couple pocket letters to send.  I love surprising my friends with pieces of happy mail, because our mailboxes can get a little bleak with all those darn bills.  I love that the new Halloween collection, Sweet & Spooky, just makes me smile; It's so darn cute!

 

I used to send out pocket letters like it was my job a couple years ago, and I haven't created one in so long.  They are so fun to create, and they are also great inspiration for your pocket page scrapbooking as well!  For my pocket letters, I always like to include a personal letter.

 

 

For this one I also created a vellum shaker pocket on one of my larger pockets.  I love creating these little shaker pockets, because they give any page a whimsical look.

 

 

I also added some more sequins to one of the 2x2 slots, using my fuse tool and the collection logo.

 

 

I love the journaling cards sheet in this collection because it has some really great cut-apart cards!  For this pocket, I used a yellow card with a spooky tree.  I added a little dimension with a piece of the words ephemera pack and an IF Homespun alpha sticker.

 

 

I finished off my second pocket letter with a little slot to slide in a tea bag!  What better treat for a cold fall than a little cup of tea that matches the color scheme!  You also don't want to forget filling the backside of the pocket with little treats!  I like to include a small piece of candy, embellishments, or even a small necklace for that extra special friend!

 

 

I wish you and your family a sweet and spooky Halloween tomorrow! I hope you were inspired to send out a little love to brighten a friend's mailbox! We all need something a little cute to grace our drab mailboxes from time to time! xo Lydia

 

Sweet & Spooky Collection (Ephemera, Cardstock Icons, 12x12 Papers), IF Homespun Alpha Stickers, Word Salad Booklet 

 

Special Surprises for Special People

This week at Bella Blvd it was all about remembering the people in our lives that make an impact!  I truly am so blessed and beyond grateful for a few special ladies in my life.  I was able to host a Bible journaling getaway, and it was such an honor to be surrounded by such talented and caring ladies!  We laughed, we cried, and we learned so much about what it means to be a friend!  A good friend teaches us how to encourage, love, and flourish!

It just so happened that one of those ladies would be celebrating their birthday while we were there!  Her gal friends call her their unicorn because of her brightly colored hair, and we knew we wanted to get her an over the top unicorn cake.  I wasn't able to find any unicorn cakes where I live, so I set about baking one myself.  I'm fairly certain I haven't baked anything in the last 4 years, so no promises as to how it might turn out.

I began by drawing out the templates that I would use for the topper onto white cardstock.  I then used those templates to create a horn, ears, and eyelashes from the Make Your Mark collection.  This could be made easier with an electronic cutting machine; however, I was traveling, so I did not have access to one.  When in doubt a pair of scissors and a pencil do just the trick!  I picked out most of the florals from the ephemera pack as well to place around the ears and horn. Lastly I adhered toothpicks to the back with washi tape.

Now comes the hard part ... the baking!  I pulled out my Make Your Mark goodies on the kitchen counter so that I could color match my cake layers.

After I finished baking my layers, I slathered on my layers of icing and put on my topper!  I then stuck on my eyelashes with icing.  I think the cake turned out pretty cute, and that was all thanks to the Make Your Mark collection and those beautiful florals!

I'm so glad I was able to honor a special friend that weekend on her birthday, and I hope you're encouraged to create something out of the box for the special people in your life xo Lydia

Make Your Mark Collection: Ephemera & 12x12 Sheets (Borders, Paint Me, Impossible, Real Deal)

Hey Girl Hey, water color fun

Good morning everyone!! Sarah here this morning to share with you a fun little mixed media project I made using the beautiful Illustrated Faith water colors! I love these!! I just have to say. The colors are so bright and mix so well!!

I started my project with a circle cork wall hanging, I covered it in white acrylic paint, once that dried I used a stencil from my stash and some modeling paste and added some little doilies around the circle.

I let the doilies dry and pulled out Shanna's Favorites acrylic paints. I spritzed the whole thing with water, I grabbed the pretty, pretty pink and started adding it here and there on the cork circle, spritzing more water over the paint and tilting it here and there and letting the water run and drag the color over more parts. I went through and did this with the dark blue and the teal as well. I loved watching it blend between the colors, blending some places into purple and bringing out the doilies on the background. 

After letting the the cork circle dry, I pulled out All people All Nations and started layering pretty papers behind my photo and fussy cutting some flowers and leaves out of one of the papers and layered them in as well. I pulled bits and pieces from the ephemera pack and shapes. I used those to create my title on the right side of my photo and then moved on to the last bit of embellishing.

I pulled out the Basic words and added a few below my photo and to the left and then went in for the Hey Sugar,Sugar epoxy stickers. I love these and I keep reaching for them on all kinds of different projects! I added these little beauties in a few spots and love the pop of white and was happy. 

 

Illustrated Faith: Studio Acrylics Shanna's Favorites, Water colors Shanna's Favorites, All People All Nations collection; Hope, Boarders&3x4's, My Foundation, Ephemera, Shapes, Epoxy Stickers;Hey Sugar,Sugar, Basics-Words, Make your mark collection;Real Deal